PRODUCT
TESTS
Neve 88M
By Clifton David Broadbridge
From my first Instagram sighting of the Neve 88M interface — showcased at NAMM — I knew it was going to be something special . With its compact , classy and very much at home on the Death Star aesthetic , the 88M provides an all-in-one system , dual mic pre / DI / Line , monitoring and high quality conversion that is sure to introduce an entirely new customer base to their brand . The name Neve has always been synonymous with class and quality with installations of their flagship console the 88RS and previous model the 88R in some of the most legendary studios in the world , including Abbey Road , Ocean Way , Air and Capital Studios to name a few .
The 88M is Neve ’ s first offering of a desktop , mobile audio interface . It ’ s entirely powered by USB 3 for total portability and versatility combining incredibly high quality features in a compact enclosure . First off , the 88M is made entirely in the U . K . with technology taken directly from the 88RS console , designed by the same team . The outer casing of the device is made from the Tolex used on their console arm rests giving it a very rugged look and feel . There is a send and return on each channel to add your favorite outboard gear as well as two TRS inputs for monitors , including a high quality headphone amplifier with separate volume control . It also has four separate LED latency free monitoring options which include in stereo DIR , MIX , DAW as well as MONO MIX .
The device when connected appears on a Mac as a core audio interface , and for Windows users a driver can be downloaded from the Neve website . It also connects to an iPad for a very convenient and portable rig . On my Mac Pro the 88M appeared with no issues and within a couple of minutes I was getting signal and ready to try it out .
What really had me excited was the fact that of all of the Neve gear I ’ ve used , I ’ ve never tried an 88RS mic pre ! The 88M uses two transformer balanced pre ’ s utilizing the same Marinair transformers from the input stage of the 88RS pre , which was designed over decades to be extremely versatile and sound amazing on many microphones and sources . I do however , have a lot of experience with 88RS EQ and it ’ s by far my favorite .
The 88M has two analogue preamp inputs ( Mic / Line / DI ) with red , yellow and green LEDs representing the three selections . Straight away when plugged into a Neumann U 47 the sound was everything that I was hoping for . It had a cleaner character than the transistor class A based 1073 , which I believe is a good thing for overall versatility . The fact that they were able to offer two analog transformer based class AB circuitry mic preamps powered by USB3 in this box is an incredible feature and I believe that many top producers and songwriters will make great use of the 88M . As Paul Epworth , producer of Adele states on their website , “ I Love it ! By far the best mobile mic Pre - audio interface available . Will be taking this everywhere with me .” Enough said .
Additionally , the insert send is always active with a stand-alone line output for each channel so you can use the 88M as just a mic pre . Awesome ! I would use this all the time in that instance and do have a need for the 88RS sound in my studio . The device also has two connections for ADAT expansion , ADAT input and ADAT output for eight extra ins and outs for more versatile monitoring and tracking .
Unlike the 88RS , the balanced Line and DI inputs are both fed through the transformer to impart more of the “ Neve ” color to the sound . Vintage synths sounded fantastic through the Line and guitars sounded full and punchy through the DI with detailed top end . I mostly use “ Strats ” when recording so the signal is naturally quite low going in from the single coil pickups . When trying with an ESP with active EMGs the signal was close to maxed out going in even with
the level control all the way down . This can be compensated for with something like a compressor patched into the channels insert to attenuate , however the 88M would benefit greatly to have a Pad included on future revisions .
Also included is mastering-grade conversion . It ’ s an offering on some of their consoles , including the Genesys console . The 88M states that it uses premium converter chips for incoming and outgoing reference grade conversion . When testing , the sound was fantastic across all frequencies and I really enjoyed having another conversion choice in my studio to reference mixes with . Maybe we will see stand-alone Neve converters in the future ?
The Neve 88M is a piece of gear that has gotten me excited about portable interfaces again . I use a Neve Genesys G64 console in my studio , however I could easily see myself doing guitars , vocals , bass and other minimal tracking on the 88M with no thoughts of compromise — with the added bonus of savings on my electrical bill . Neve have just started their offerings in this section of the market with a great product backed by high quality and design . What ’ s not to like !
Clifton David Broadbridge is a Canadian musician , composer and engineer living in Tennessee . He recently opened El Mocambo Sound , Nashville , expanding the legendary venue ’ s rock and roll brand into the “ Music City ” area with a analog based boutique production , mixing and recording studio . For more information check out elmocambosound . com
www . cliftondavidbroadbridge . com . He can be reached at
clifton @ elmocambosound . com .
22 PROFESSIONAL SOUND